Green Your Easter Basket with Washcloth Bunnies!

Easter is quickly approaching, and here's another fun and easy way to make your Easter baskets more eco-friendly: make sweet little bunny rabbits out of washcloths! Choose new washcloths in a festive color, and bring them to life as cute inhabitants of Easter baskets, that may then be used as washcloths for bathtime. These washcloth bunnies are also a great alternative to plastic egg holders... stuff a few candy treats inside one of these critters instead! Read on for the super simple tutorial!

DIY: Make A Gingerbread House Out Of A Juice Carton!

Kids love to decorate gingerbread houses as a holiday season tradition -- but what I don't love are the expensive, wasteful gingerbread house kits! I can never get them to assemble correctly without the walls falling down, and the icing is a mess. I definitely do not have the time to hand roll gingerbread and score it into walls, etc., so here is a very simple, eco-friendly way to make an adorable gingerbread house out of a milk or juice carton using graham crackers for the walls!

How To: Decoupage Flower Pots

New to the medium of decoupage, I ventured out and got my first bottle of Mod Podge to start exploring the art -- now I am officially addicted and want to decoupage EVERYTHING! The warm sunny weather in San Diego this past weekend inspired me to plant some new plants and give the pots I put them in a bit of flair. I decided to decoupage some Terracotta plant holders with materials I had around the house. It was very easy and very fun -- read on to learn how to make your own decoupage flower pots!

How to Craft a Kids' Table for the Thanksgiving Meal

Thanksgiving is around the corner, and the preparations must begin! Who's hosting? What dishes are being prepared? This occasion marks such a special time for families to gather in one place to give thanks and be together. One thing kids always look forward to at these large gatherings is their very own kids' table! But every parent knows how hard it can be to get their child to actually sit down and eat. That being said, you can make the kids' table a fun and exciting place for the children to be entertained while they eat. Here are some tips on creating a memorable Thanksgiving table for kids.

DIY Adorable, Kid-Friendly Homemade Valentine Cards

Valentine's Day is right around the corner, and everyone loves receiving thoughtful Valentine cards. Today's craft highlights several great ideas for making your own special Valentines with your kids!

Gorgeous Advent Calendar Made from Toilet Paper Rolls from Maya Made

One of these years, I will get around to making a homemade Advent Calendar. And when I do, I hope it is as gorgeous, green and innovative as this beauty from Maya Made.

Who knew toilet paper rolls could be upcycled into something so classy, festive, and important --counting down the days to Christ's birth.

See the DIY details here!

Image via Maya Made

St. Patrick's Day Craft: Potato Stamps & More Artistic Fun!

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, let's make art with potatoes! Your Petite Picassos will love creating masterpieces with potato stamps, sponge stamps and marbles as a special alternative to pulling out crayons or markers for art time. Next time your little one wants to celebrate their abstract side, encourage their talents with these quick and easy, delightfully fun craft projects!

Beautiful, Unique Easter Eggs Decorated with Seeds, Grains & Beans!

Oh, the fond memories of coloring eggs the week before Easter! Remember those colored tablets that would fizz in the cup, and the neon colored dye that would remain on your hands for days to come? While packaged egg dyeing kits are still readily available, there are so many greener, craftier ways to decorate your Easter eggs. This year, I decided to make unconventional, rustic looking eggs by decorating them with various nuts, grains, seeds and beans: raw pumpkin seeds, uncooked rice, lentils, beans, orzo and popcorn! To do the same, all you need is some creativity and a few things you already have in your pantry!

How to Grow REAL Grass for Your Easter Baskets!

This week's craft requires a green thumb... we're growing real grass for our Easter baskets! I'm presenting this craft a month in advance of Easter because it may take 2-3 weeks for your grass to grow. It will be worth the wait to have beautiful real grass to line your kid's baskets -- and you'll help make the Easter Bunny's offering an eco-friendly one!

How To: Make Homemade Puppets!

Kids love using their imagination and hosting their own puppet shows at home. Puppets are also great toys to pack in the car or diaper bag for on the go entertainment and fun! You can utilize everyday household materials to make your own puppets with your kids! Here are two ways to make super cute, simple puppets using a sock, or felt.

DIY: Make Holiday Candle Holders from Baby Food Jars!

Do you ever wish you had a useful purpose for your empty glass baby food jars? We're taking it up quite a notch from typical recycling purposes for baby food jars, ie: storage for nuts and bolts, loose change, etc. Here is a great, eco-friendly way to upcycle your baby food jars into beautiful, decorative candle/votive holders, just in time for the holidays!

HOW TO: Make Personalized, Eco-Friendly Wrapping Paper

Every holiday season, the gifts that we spend so much time and money wrapping in fancy store bought wrapping paper get opened in record time and the paper is quickly tossed aside. This Christmas, save money and the earth by creatively wrapping presents in items you probably already have around your house. Doing so is a unique, personalized, eco-friendly way to present your offerings to loved ones. Here are some quick and easy ideas for making your own wrapping paper!

How To Make Homemade Felt Cookies & Bake Up Play Kitchen Fun!

GOT FELT? MAKE HOMEMADE FELT COOKIES!

This week's craft might appear to be a huge undertaking, especially if you don't sew. But I assure you, neither do I -- except for the occasional button or tear, and I was able to make these adorable cookies with ease! This was a very fun craft because I loved seeing how many different varieties and flavors of cookies I could whip up. I was inspired to make these homemade felt cookies because special pretend food made with love is less expensive, non-toxic, and green!

5 Finishing Touches for Your Thanksgiving Meal

As we all scurry about to serve up a Thanksgiving feast and host friends and family this holiday, here are five easy and frugal finishing touches to add to your celebration -- sometimes the smallest details can make the biggest difference!

How to: Recycle Broken Crayons Into Colorful New Crayons!

Today's craft project is: Recycled CRAYONS!

Recycling broken crayons into new ones is a fun, easy, inexpensive craft to do with your kids -- and it's a great opportunity to teach children the value of upcycling! So, next time your child breaks a crayon during a coloring session, save it in a special box and put it aside to do this craft!

Green Kid Crafts: Monthly Subscription Service Delivers Eco-friendly Craft Projects to Your Doorstep

Green Kid Crafts Worry Dolls

There are two types of people: the crafty, and the not-so crafty. Readers of Petite Planet know which category I fall into, seeing as I can barely thread a needle -- so I can use all the help I can get when it comes to doing arts and crafts with my kids. We just had the good fortune of receiving a package of craft kits from Green Kid Crafts on a rare rainy day when we were stuck indoors. Miss O and I had a blast doing the crafts together, and I wasn't at all intimidated by the instructions or tasks that needed to be performed to bring the crafts to fruition!

Ironically, one of the Green Kid Crafts we received were the Worry Dolls (shown above). Our family is full of professional worrywarts, including Miss O., so when I told her the story behind the Guatemalan worry dolls, and how you put one under your pillow, tell it your worry and your worry is taken away while you sleep, she was thrilled. We shared a lot of giggles making these worry dolls together. All of the materials we needed to make the dolls were provided in a bag, (we needed to provide glue and scissors), and the instructions were super easy to follow -- even reminding you that the most important thing was to have fun and enjoy making the craft together -- not to focus on the outcome. We gave Sally (what Miss O named her doll) all of Miss O's worries about having bad dreams at bedtime tonight, and I am hoping she's currently working like a charm.

Green Kid Crafts is a monthly subscription service that you can currently sign up to receive for 3, 6, or 9 months. Soon to be offered is a $15 per month plan as well. I think it's well worth the price because each month you receive three complete craft projects to create with your kids. All of the projects are designed by hand and comprised of non-toxic, natural and eco-friendly supplies.

Green Kid Crafts Earth Map Mobile

Here is a sample gallery of some of the many different crafts that Green Kid Crafts sends out. I like that while you're doing these crafts with your kids, you can discuss how they are green, ie: what are you using that is recycled or repurposed, what elements from nature can you use to create art, etc. Crafting together is also a wonderful way to bond with your kids, and a much needed alternative to parents and kids spending their time in isolation mode watching TV, or looking at a computer.

Green Kid Crafts offsets 100% of the carbon dioxide they generate with their business, and they help fund the development of renewable energy projects in the United States.

Best of all, they take the guesswork out of which craft projects to do with your kids, they eliminate the need to drive to the store to buy supplies -- and they made me feel less squeamish, and more excited and inspired about getting crafty.

Eco-Friendly Easter Crafts for Green Kids

Looking for some fun crafts to do with your kiddos on the days leading up to Easter?

Make your own eco-friendly Easter baskets from juice cartons.

Fashion a bevy of bunnies out of washcloths to populate baskets.

Skip the dye and decorate your eggs with grains, seeds and beans.

Decoupage flower pots for your Easter table centerpiece.

DIY Egg Decorating Craft Featured on Parenting.com!

Thanks so much to Parenting.com for featuring a Petite Planet craft on their website in an article titled: DIY Easter Egg Ideas. Revisit the craft tutorial here in its entirety and have some fun decorating your eggs naturally, without dye!

DIY Art: Recycled Soda Bottle Creates Beautiful Cherry Blossoms

It takes a special person to see a kid-friendly craft project in the bottom of a soda bottle, and Alphamom did just that. This beautiful cherry blossom art (cherry blossom trees are my very favorite), came to life by dipping the bottom of the bottle into pink paint, and stamping it onto paper. I'd love to do this on a long stretch of canvas and make a growth chart out of it. See the quick and easy tutorial here on Alphamom.

Image via: Alphamom

Sweetest Valentine (Or Anytime) Gift for Craft-Loving Kids

Swoon. How absolutely adorable are these Hand-Stitching Projects from Thread Follower?

These 'projects' are designed for kids ages 8+ and are so rewarding because the outcome is a sweet little animal creature that is a prime example and lovely exhibit of your child's handiwork.

Included in each kit are wool and rayon felt, wool batting, embroidery thread and the needle, step-by-step instructions and pattern. 

And all materials provided in the kits are recycled whenever possible, and locally sourced. The merino wool stuffing is produced by local New England farms and the wool felt is manufactured in Massachusetts. (Thread Follower is based in Rhode Island). Packaging consists of recycled boxes, eco papers and vegetable based inks.

If you're in the Portland area- pick up one of these sweet kits from Grasshopper.